Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-01-02
/ the case of the State Of Texas
.. Delesdenier, Seventh Texas


VS.. Delesdenier, Seventh Texas
Reports, quoted with syowed ap
proval the following language from the
sup enc court OF the United States, Gar
appropriation of land by the government
Is nothing more nor less than setting il
apart for some particular purpose, and
whenever tract of land shall have once
been legally appropriated TO any purpose,
from that moment the land thus appro-
priated becomes severed from the mass
OF pu 7lic domain, and TO subsequent law,
! or proclamation, or sale would be consid-
cred to embr ,ce it or to operate upon it,
! although no other reservation were made
of it,"
For the convenience of such persons as
msy feel sufficiently interested in the
question to pursue it's examine
ton into the books, and for those VINO
may rave any doubts to be moved, re
fer to few of the legal authorities, to
wit:
State vs.. Delesdenier, Texas, 70;
Wilcox vs.. jackson, Is Pet. Todd vs..
Fisher and Miller, % Texas, pa; Martin
VS.. Spaulding, / Wis, PIP; Leavenworth,
etc, R. R. Co. vs.. United States, 80 U. S,
| 1888; Newhsll VS.. Sanger, iiem, 76l: X. ?.
K. R. Co. vs. A, L. & S. F. r. X. Co., 2
McCrarY, SOS.
1t is capable OF the easiest demonstra-
ton that this appropriation Of the land by
the legislature to the public uses OF the
government stands on higher ground
than would q grant OF it to al individual
for 1t is certainly true, as we every day
see, that private property may be taken
m hot no
land is public property in the sense that
1t belongs to the public, or the govern
ment representing the public, and is ap-
piled to public use is not denied, but this
is true also of the capitol buildings at
Austin, and the capitol grounds, and the
public grounds generally; of the &c, co.
600 of acres Of common school lsud, the
capital lands etc etc and the same ar
sument that would prove that, uotwith-
standing the reservation, Greer county
land can be located with certificates,
would prove that any of the above descr D.
tons OF land can he so located. 1t would,
for Instance, sustain the location
of certificate on the beautiful park
fronting the lunatic asylum. One half
OF the land ls reserved for the same pur-
Pose for which the millions of acres OF
common-school lands are reserved, that
is, for educational purposes. The same
legislature that reserved one bali OF the
county for the p1rpOsa of paying the pub
lie debt reserved also several millions of
acres OF other land for q similar purpose;
and whV not place the certificates upon
that? II the rubliC-debt half of Greer
county is subject to location then the
other reserved land for public-de5t pur-
poses is likewise subject 10 location
But for some resson that has never been
conteDded the land in Greer county then
was completely reserved from location on
and sitter February 25, 1879. After thst
DAY it was no longer pub ic domain.
The same legislature, at the same ses-
sion, which made this reservation passed
an act, the purpose OF which vas TO grant
certificate CO GAO acres OF land to the
veterans engaged ia the Texas revolution.
This act became q law on July "a, 1879,
five months after the reservation of the
land 10 Greer county; Eve months after
the land had ceased to come within the
description OF "public domain" The
holders Of these "veteran certificates" as
they are called, were only author
lied to locate them on eny
OF the "puOlic DOMAIN" SO that of
course they were not authorized to To-
cate them N .reer unity, Tor every foot
of land in that county had fve months
before been applied by the government
to other purposes. To use g somewhat
technic phrase, it had been severed from
the punlic domain, and constituted no
part Of it. According to my inf )rmation,
no one ever claimed or attempted to ex
ercise the right to locate these certifi
Gates, granted by the act of 1879, in
Greer county. Indeed, so far from
claiming the exist nee Of the
right to locate ITEM there, al
long pull ard strong pull
ami pull altogether was
made by their holders, spectators in
them, ard probably sGme of the veterans,
to induce the next legislature, which
convened in 1881, to allow such locations.
This that Legislature refused to 90, but
the same session Of it increased the
amount of certificates from $40 acres to
1880 acres. This set acquired tie force
and effect of q law on the first cay OF
July, 1881, or two and oTe-quarttr years
after the appropriation Of the land il |
Greer county to the education Of the
children in Texas" In providing for the |
stipulated that "they may be To-
Gated as headlight certificates upon
any Of the public domain"
Now the right 70 locate them also being
limited to public domain" aEd as
Greer county land WIS not public do
main, there was, in effect, a prohibition |
IN the very act granting them against
going there WITH them. And it msy be
remarked thst headlight Cert ficates could |
never at any time be placed upon land in
spite OF It's reservation. This last act
That Of 1S8l-in terms repesled all laws |
in conflict with il, specifying, however,
no particular act except the previous
veteran at of 1879. But every man, law
yer or not, knows that every lister law
repsals every former Law with |
which 1t conflicts, whether it
Is so declared or not. BotD
cannot stand, and the last declaration of
The legislative will must, of course, pre-
veil. 1t has been noticed that the first |
veteran act, as well as the second,
provided that the certificates should be
located on "public domain" but it has
been seen that, instead of claiming that
The certificates issued under the first act
could be located in Greer county, an at
Tempt was made to work through 6 bill
them to be located there. By
what process Of refined reasoning it was
ound that the language which in one act
and which, according to its
import, forbade such To-
cations, became so warton as
10 grant it to another, is too hard for
ne. There is one ether law that I will
,otice, for On attempt has been made to
harness it in for service 10 this business.
The SANG leuisiafnrs that nassad the